II Peter 3:11 – How Should We Then Live?

“Thus all these things being dissolved, what sort [of persons] ought you be in holy livings and godlinesses?”

“What sort [of persons] ought you be?”

That ultimately is the question, is it not? How should we then live?

“Thus all these things being dissolved ...” Understanding the Truth that all of this is temporary, that it is all irrevocably destined for complete annihilation – how should that truth affect my values, my decisions, my priorities, my attitudes, and the choices I make all throughout my day?

Two thoughts – one: that the passage particularly focuses in on “holy livings and godlinesses” and two: that whatever is the answer to the question ought to come from God Himself. The emphasis on “holy livings and godlinesses” draws us away from our temporal concerns and focuses us on that which is spiritual. We must consult God for our answer.

Of course the entire Bible is itself the answer to this question. The entire Bible answers the question, “How Should We Then Live?” But it is also true that there are some passages which more clearly and specifically answer this question before us.

One that I think hits the nail on the head is Col 3:1-4:6. I am going to copy/paste the whole passage here and bold particular lines as I think it so totally and clearly answers our text’s questions: What does God think are “holy livings and godlinesses?” What “sort of persons” does God think we should be? How should we then live? Note right off the bat verse 2 which I think immediately addresses the same issue of “Thus all these things being dissolved …”:

 ¹ If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. ² Set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth. ³ For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. ⁴ When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

⁵ Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. ⁶ Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, ⁷ in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them.
⁸ But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. ⁹ Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, ¹⁰ and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, ¹¹ where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.
¹² Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, submissiveness, patience; ¹³ bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. ¹⁴ But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. ¹⁵ And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. ¹⁶ Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. ¹⁷ And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

 
¹⁸ Wives, submit to your own husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.
¹⁹ Husbands, love your wives and do not be bitter toward them.
²⁰ Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing to the Lord.
²¹ Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.
²² Workers, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but in sincerity of heart, fearing God. ²³ And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, ²⁴ knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ. ²⁵ But he who does wrong will be repaid for what he has done, and there is no partiality.

4 ¹ Bosses, give your workers what is just and fair, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven. 
² Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving; ³ meanwhile praying also for us, that God would open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in chains, ⁴ that I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak.
⁵ Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time. ⁶ Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.

If someone stumbles across this blog, I hope you’ll read the passage above slowly, thoughtfully, and carefully. Does it not precisely answer Peter’s question: “Thus all these things being dissolved, what sort of persons ought you be in holy livings and godlinesses”? What a Pandora’s Box of blessings! May I suggest this passage is profoundly important not only for what it says … but also what it doesn’t say??

First of all, if a believer took this passage to heart, could they ever be accused of being “so heavenly minded, they’re no earthly good?” It is a common (mis)application of “setting your affections on things above” that people think it okay to ignore their responsibilities in this world. Isn’t that the whole idea of monks – to close out this world and sit up on a pole somewhere just praying and meditating for years on end? Isn’t that impressively “spiritual”? Is it? Is it according to this passage? A thoughtful consideration of this passage would utterly refute such subtly impressive foolishness.

Note some other things it doesn’t say: It doesn’t say if you’re truly serious about following the Lord you’ll get a haircut, wear a coat & tie to church, carry a particular Bible version, sing only certain songs, go to church four times a week, volunteer for six more things at the church building, get on a plane and fly to Zambia to pass out tracts, stand militantly against Calvinism or Neoevangelicalism or whatever … It doesn’t say any of those things. Yet how many people do those things and think they’ve arrived spiritually?

What does it say? What sort of persons ought we to be? Note right away, He goes for your heart. “Put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, …”

And what does He want us to put on? BUT stop. Before you answer that, put everything else out of your mind. Don’t carry anything with you. Go back to the passage above completely empty-handed and naked. Take nothing with you. Leave behind your ideas of what it means to be “spiritual” and let God and God alone answer the question, “What sort of persons ought you be?”

What does He say? “Put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, submissiveness, patience; ¹³ …and forgiving one another, …But above all these things put on love.”

Should we be surprised to find ourselves here? What did Jesus say are the two great commands? Love God/Love people. “Thus all these things being dissolved, what sort of persons ought you be?” “Loving persons” is clearly our answer. That is the “sort of persons” we ought to be. How should we then live? “In love.” “Over all these things, put on love.” “They’ll know we are Christians by our ___________”.

At this point our evil hearts will still jump track. “Love? Oh, of course. I feel very loving towards the needy and the orphan children of the world. Check that one off.” Whoops. Wait a minute. Once again, where does He want this love to show up? “Wives, husbands, children, fathers, workers, bosses …” Isn’t that interesting: At home and at work. Which just happens to be the two places common people spend basically all of their time! …And the two places they may find it most difficult to love, to forgive, to be kind.

But that is exactly where God wants our love to shine brightest. “So heavenly minded, no earthly good?” What does God say?

God, please help me keep this focus. As I sincerely try to live my life today in full awareness that all of this is temporary, may I put out of my mind all of my preconceived notions of what You think is important, and may I know the victory of conquering myself and putting on a genuine love for the very people I live with all day every day. I am too selfish, too self-consumed, too self-preserving. Today may I die to Self and tonight may I have known the victory of having loved.

That’s the “sort of person” He wants me to be. That’s how we should “then live.”

II Peter 3:11 – By-Path Meadows

“Thus all these things being dissolved, what sort [of persons] ought you be in holy livings and godlinesses?”

There’s actually one more observation I want to make before I dive hard into applications of this passage. As I noted in the last post, this verse poses what I believe is “the question” which ought to follow all Bible study: “How Should We Then Live?” “How should this truth affect my daily life?”

I also noted in the last post that too often people presume to teach the Bible when they really haven’t studied. Others presume to teach when they themselves really haven’t thought through how to apply it. There is actually one more danger that must be recognized: By-Path Meadow. One may have studied. One may realize they should make applications. But are the applications themselves valid? Are they Biblical? My proposition for the day is that there are always lots of By-Path Meadows and we must passionately avoid them.

What do I mean? In Pilgrim’s Progress, Christian and his companion (was it Faithful?) were traveling down the Path to the Celestial City, when they saw another path running right alongside the Path. It appealed to them, so they climbed the stile and followed it – only to end up in the Dungeon of Despair. That’s what I mean. There are always a lot of choices – which path we’ll follow, which way we’ll go, how we’ll apply these Scriptures. As Robert Frost said, “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood and I, I chose the path less traveled by – and that has made all the difference.” Of course in God’s infinitely variegated universe, there are a million legitimate applications of any truth, yet still there are those applications which are valid and those which are not, those which lead us on down the Path, and those that are unfortunately By-Paths that will sooner or later leave us disappointed.

The Lord warned us of this: “Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ” (Col 2:8). Beware which way people lead you. Beware of what others may call “truth.” Make sure what you choose to believe is really truth. Many are quick to assert this very thing about what they “believe” but is it not equally true in how they apply what they say they believe? Are the two not inseparable?

Probably my greatest regret in my Christian life has been letting other people tell me what to believe and, in particular, what the Bible “means” – how it should affect my life. At too many important junctures in my life, I actually knew what the Bible said yet let people tell me, “Oh, that means this” or “Oh, no, it doesn’t mean that.” I wrongly said to myself, “Well, they’re a lot more mature than me. I’d better listen to them.” By-Path Meadows. And every single time I did that, it led me ultimately to the Dungeon of Despair. To this day, the decisions I made are my deepest regrets. They cut my heart. They cost me years of progress I could have made. They distracted me from the real Truth. They robbed me of the kind of life the Lord would have had me live. But the worst part of it all is that it was my choice. I knew what Col 2:8 said. I’d memorized it. What I should have said each of those times was, “Oh, yeah? Explain that to me.” And I should not have “followed” their advice until I was confident that was really what the Bible said. No more. God help me – I am determined the rest of my life I will never again let anyone tell me what the Bible “says”. I will sit under their sermons, even listen to their counsel, but I will do what I sincerely believe the Bible says. If I’m wrong God or my good friends will correct me. And I’d rather be wrong doing what I sincerely believe the Bible teaches than to ignore the Lord’s warning in Col 2:8 and end up in the Dungeon of Despair.

It’s my choice.

Lord, help me to follow Truth, to spend my energies pursuing real “holy livings and godlinesses” and not to be distracted by By-Path Meadows.

II Peter 3:11 – So What?

“Thus all these things being dissolved, what sort [of persons] ought you be in holy livings and godlinesses?”

Having dispensed with my exegetical spelunking, I must move on to applications. Ruminating on this passage, I find its overwhelming effect to recall Francis Schaeffer’s book, “How Should We Then Live?”  “…what sort [of persons] ought you be?”

I read Dr. Schaeffer’s book very early in my walk with Christ and to this day feel that it and JI Packer’s “Knowing God” are the two books which most shaped who I am. “How Should We Then Live?” Is this not the proper question of all Bible study? “How Should We Then Live?” “Thus all these things …, what sort [of persons] ought you be?” All these things being true, what effects should their apprehension have upon your life?

Again, is this not the proper question of all Bible study? My emphasis here may sound trite or cliché, but is it? In over 30 years, I have heard a lot of sermons, read a lot of books, listened to a lot of people supposedly doing “Bible” teaching. And in all that time there have been two glaring omissions: 1) too often it was obvious to me that the speaker really hasn’t spent the time studying to begin with. He or she simply does not know their Bible; and 2) even when they actually seemed to have done their exegesis, there was little or no application. I have walked away from so many sermons asking, “So what?” “Yes, those were nice verses. Yes, you are a good speaker (sometimes). Yes, you seem passionate. Yes, you presented a lot of profound observations. But, so what?” I have at times verbalized those very words at the risk of sounding blasphemous. But is it blasphemous? Is it wrong to ask at the end of any sermon or lesson, “So what?” In fact, if any sermon or lesson leaves people even tempted to ask, “So what?” is that not an indication that the speaker failed? Should not the speaker themselves have been asking, “So what?” before they ever dared to enter a pulpit and propose to speak for God? If the speaker him or herself cannot clearly answer the question, “So what?,” are they even qualified to teach it?

Again, at the risk of being cliché or trite, and at the risk of being accused of being blasphemous, is this not always where proper Bible study should lead? “…So what?”

I once listened to a very small boy (maybe 6 years old) give a little 2 minute sermon. In it, he read a verse, gave some small explanation, then applied it … well. As he stepped down from his chair (he had to stand on one to be seen over the top of the podium), there was what I honestly would call a holy hush over the room. People knew they’d just been fed spiritually. They had honestly heard Scripture and been moved to consider “what manner of persons ought you to be?” They’d heard a message from God … from a six-year old boy! What made it so moving I believe was that it really did hit home … and that from a six-year old boy!

Is this not exactly the question Peter is proposing? “Thus all these things …, what sort [of persons] ought you be?”  What will you do with this Truth?

Several verses immediately come to my mind:

“Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them”(John 13:17).

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock” (Matt 7:24).

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (II Tim 3:16,17).

“Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful” (Joshua 1:8).

“I will walk within my house with a perfect heart” (Psalm 101:2).

The Holy Spirit didn’t write the Bible so it would gather dust but He also didn’t write it to be studied for the sake of knowledge (or whatever). He gave it to equip us. He gave it that we might know “what sort of people we ought to be”(!).

I don’t believe every time I pick up the Bible (or even every time I spend hours studying it) that I will necessarily see how it applies to my life. In fact, if a reader follows my blogs long enough, sooner or later you’ll find me “doing a Habakkuk.” Habakkuk said, “I will stand at my post and see what the Lord will answer me.” Sometimes I study and study, believe I really do understand the technical details of a passage, but still just don’t know what to do with it. So I just go into a Habakkuk: a praying mode for a few days and asking the Lord to show me. Usually He does and He blows my mind. But sometimes He doesn’t and I just have to lay the passage down and move on. Guess the point is, though, that I believe that is where we must always be headed. Yes I want to study. Yes I want to know my Bible. Yes I love Greek and Hebrew and all the ins and outs of grammar and parts of speech. But it all needs to be headed toward this very question: “So what?” or more Biblically: “What sort of persons ought you to be?”

We so need for the Lord to repackage our brains. Our own sin natures and the world and Satan have filled our minds with lies and deceptions. But as Jesus said, “When you know the Truth, the truth shall make you free.” The Bible is “… mighty through God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” (II Cor 10:4,5).

And so I study on. Lord, teach me Your truth. Help me see the world clearly. Help me see myself clearly. Help me to make the connection between the Scriptures I’ve studied and the kinds of changes those truths should make in my life. In the very passage before me, I know for a fact “All these things will be dissolved.” My present material world will not last. What sort of person should I then be? “How Should I Then Live?” What sort of “holy livings” and “godlinesses” should be true in my life?

That is the question.

II Peter 3:11 – Exegetical Playground(!)

“Thus all these things being dissolved, what sort [of persons] ought you be in holy livings and godlinesses?”

My, my, my. As I’ve related before, for years I’ve anticipated studying these very verses and now that I’m here, it’s like an exegetical candy shop! These verses are full of unusual grammatical twists that beg pondering but then, what’s more, such ponderings hold the promise of being rewarded with stratospheric implications. My, my, my. How like God Himself. In Greek, this verse contains only thirteen words, yet its application(s) is profound.

First, exegetical observations. Interesting that, once again, Peter switches to present tense. Anything but aorist is always deliberate. Present tense. You would think it would be a future tense (interestingly, the same word was in the future tense back in v10), which is exactly what most translators do with the verse. Of course, in English, our primary understanding of present tense involves time. Not so with Greeks. They were more concerned with time than the Hebrews … but not much. (And the Hebrews seemed to care nothing at all for time). For Greeks, the present tense more expressed the idea of continuous, on-going, or habitual action. As I said, most translators render the first phrase a future, like “Since all these things will be dissolved …” on the proposition it is a “futuristic present.”  That is definitely possible, especially for a Hebrew mind. In other words, one is in a sense picturing the future as if it is actually happening. Robertson also suggests the present expresses that the process of dissolution is already occurring. Certainly that is true, but I really don’t think that’s what he means. Somehow he is definitely referring to future events – the Day of the Lord, in particular, so it would seem inconsistent to me to suddenly be making a point about how things are actually already devolving.

It makes perfect sense for the “ought you be” to be present tense, again realizing the emphasis is not on time but on the action as continuous or habitual.

There are several other interesting little grammatical twists in the verse, but I’ll close by mentioning that the words “holy living” and “godliness” are actually plurals in Greek, hence my translation, “holy livings and godlinesses.” I would suppose he is using the plural to emphasize all of the individual practices and choices that add up to “holy living and godliness.” I’ve never read anywhere else where something typically singular was expressed in plural – and any reason why. Apparently this is the only NT use of these words as plurals. Interesting.

Well those are just some miscellaneous exegetical observations. As I said, there are more. But I need to get on to applications. So will do that in the following posts.